Beauty & Fashion

Baby Phat x Forever 21Just Dropped A Throwback Collection & We Are Here For It

Jun 14, 2019 06:00 AM +0000

Before we rocked Apple Bottom jeans and boots with the fur, Kimora Lee Simmons had everybody and their mama rocking velvet tank tops and rhinestone belts. Recently, Queen Kimora brought Baby Phat back from the 99's to the 2000's and gave us all the throwback Thursday we didn't know we needed.

Originally launched in 1999, the brand was hugely responsible for creating a palpable trend that had black women across the country dropping with street style sauce. Kimora told Fashionista:

"Honestly, I had that vision from the beginning because in the '90s, women had little in the way of representation in the urban lifestyle category. The market was wide open, but no one had thought to cater to women – especially women of color – yet. Baby Phat's growth transcended even what I thought was possible. It really turned into a movement."

Now, after 20 years, the cat is back, and Kimora enlisted the help of Forever 21 and a few well-known family members to bring her lifelong vision to fruition. After watching their mom slay runways and close lucrative business accounts around the world for much of their lives, Aoki and Ming became instrumental in Kimora's plan for relaunch and even starred along Diddy's twins in the viral ad campaign.

Kimora explained that it was only right to position her daughters at the forefront of the relaunch because they were there to see it all happen the first time around:

"Bringing back Baby Phat in a meaningful way has been a dream of mine for years. Sometimes the timing of things just aligns perfectly. My girls, Ming Lee and Aoki Lee, are 19 and 16 years old now and want to be a part of what truly is our family business. The stars really aligned on this one."

To Kimora, Baby Phat has always been more than a fashion brand, issa legacy, and her goal is to ensure that her work can inspire women in the same way now that it did 20 years ago. She continued:

"From its birth, Baby Phat was designed by women, for women. Now it's owned by a woman who will share it with the next generation of women, which includes my daughters. Models of every color, age, gender, and size should be represented because fashion is more global than ever."

As one of the first people to ever show love to black women in the high-end fashion world, Kimora says that her mission has always been clear: to be iconic. The 44-year-old fashion entrepreneur hopes to make Baby Phat the Chanel of our generation:

"The really exciting challenge here is that we are bringing back a brand that feels iconic to half our audience, but also introducing it for the first time to the other half of the audience – millennials and zillenials who weren't even born yet when we first debuted."

With her new line, Kimora promises to pay homage to the old collection while still giving the brand a major renovation:

"Honestly, I had that vision from the beginning because in the '90s, women had little in the way of representation in the urban lifestyle category. The market was wide open, but no one had thought to cater to women – especially women of color – yet. Baby Phat's growth transcended even what I thought was possible. It really turned into a movement."

To check out some of our favorite pieces from the new line, click through the gallery below!

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Images courtesy of Forever 21

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